Driver Market and Future Speculation

Five live, Formula one Is it me or is it a bit hot? maybe a bit too hot. Some might declare a hate hazard off track and on it is the championship heating up A Ferrari and Hamilton well and truly in the fight Can Mercedes get on top of their reliability issues? And is the driver market about to kick off? All that and more to be discussed on your checkred flag preview ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix with myself, Harry Benjamin. BBCF one correspondent Andrew Benson and racing driver Abby Eaton But before all of that, Abby, you've raced here at the Red Bull riig several times in W series nestled in the beautiful Syriion hills. Is it a fun track It is very much a fun track. You've got these long, long straights into super heavy braking zones And sector three you've got some super fast corners where you need a bit of bravery to be fair out the back. and it's a wicked circuit. And as you said, it's beautiful, beautiful setting How many corners are you counting, Andrew? I think seven, isn't it? the real number? I've got ten down on the official circuit map, but yeah, seven for me Well we will get into everything that will be coming our way for this weekend. First and foremost, let's bring you up to speed W how the championship standings look coming into what is round eight of the forula one worldorld Championship. and it is Kimmy Antonlli who sits at the top of the standings with one hundred fifty six points. He's forty one clear of Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari who's a further nine points clear of George Russell, Charlac Clair andlando Norris Round out the top five Mercedes lead the way in the constructors. They have two hundred and sixty two points there seventy two clear Ferrari with McLaren Red Bull and Alpine making up the top five in the constructors So It's it's it's looking tight. We're going to talk a little bit about the Mercedes reliability. And I think that's the reason I'm kind of trying to pig up this championship almost being supercharged again because we are off the back of what is a race that will go down in the history books, Andrews Lewis Hamilton winning his first race for Ferrari at Barcelona just a couple of weeks out. And there was no luck involved. It was speed and it was it was pure moment for him and Ferrari announcing themselves in this championship fight. Well, you used the word close a few seconds ago, didn't you Harry? It's not close yet there's the potential for it to be close Victory was obviously a historic moment, as you say, and also a statement from Hamilton. We'd already seen this year that he was back to pretty close to his best after a very difficult opening season for Ferrari last year when he was clearly publicly doubting himself many times after qualifying sessions and races back to normal basically this year. and this was the final confirmation of that. It was a typical Hamilton drive different strategy from Mercedes. He was on it all race. he kept the pressure on them They got a bit of help with the virtual with a safety car around about the sort of two thirds point of the race, but I think Mercedes thought that Hamilton would have beaten them anyway. He would just have had to have passed. their drivers or one of them depending on when they retired and when he caught them and Landon Norrises McLaren on if the strategies had played out without that safety car Totally on merit. And it raised the question, didn't it? forty one points he would use the gap to to championship leader Kimmy Antoneell in splitting the Mercedes drivers in the championship after George Russells Run of bad luck Can he keep it going and I think this race and the next two in Silverston and Spa Circuits that are not dissimilar in character. They're sort power circuits, fast circuits where Ferrari have been struggling So far this year, Barcelon is different, it's all long duration quarns So if Ferrari with the help of an engine upgrade that comes in to play this weekend and carries forward, if that in addition to the chassis upgrades that they introduced in Spain, close that gap so that he becomes a consistent challenger to Mercedes rather than an occional one, then yes the Championships on. Yeah, Abby, wouldould you agree with that? Because as Andrew says, it feels like brewing for Hamilton and Ferrari and now off the back of those aerodynamic upgrades and engine Great for this weekend feels like it has been brewing. this isn't a surprise. Now I think we've seen a bit of a different attitude from Lewis this year. He just seems to be hungry for it. He feels I think it looks like he's jelling with the carm more. As you say, Andrew, it's the old Hamilton that we see on track now. U you know, it seems to just put a spring in his step. and he's mentioned previously in interviews that He's never trained so hard in the off season. He's never been more hungry and you know he has doubted himself publicly over the last years. So actually it was quite uncomfortable to see at times, you know how much kind of lack of confidence he had in himself. So it's nice to see him back on top form and it's nice to have another manufacturer in the championship battle. Well it was certainly a very popular win with the fans, with the media and even his fellow drivers I wasn't expecting that for sure and it was really appreciated because I think ultimately like I think, I have so much respect for all the drivers that show up every weekend, experience the highs and lows, the criticism, the positives, and they still continue to show up with the very face and can do what they do to the best of their ability. You know, we're competitors and we all want to beat each other on track and none of us are happy with kns finishing ahead of the other, but to see We have GPA as a tight knit group of drivers more close than I think probably any I would imagine any other generation, maybe at least in the last twenty years. So it was really special to see to see the support from them. And yeah. Is there any realistic reason why you shouldn't couldn't realistically challenge that championship I think the opportunity is there But it's one thing being there and then there's another thing or galvanizing the troops and developing. you know, you can hit plateaus in terms of development, all sorts. So all we can do is just take it one day at a time All we can do is really continue to bring everything, you know, everyone brings something to the table and this team and everyone back at the factory is working so so hard. They see what's possible And when you see what's possible It kind of gives you it's like a Nor star. you you know, that's the direction we need to go. whether or not the teams had that for a while, I'm not sure, but obviously last year we didn't have really a North star And this year we have it. So everyone's like doubling down, everyveryone's putting that extra bit of work in even more than they what they've ever done before. and I think it's really starting to show and the stuff that's coming through. This weekend, you know, we do have a new engine it's a step. It's not the whole gap But it's a step, you know it's one foot forwards, which I'm really, really proud and thankful for. still Mercedes other team to win to beat won everything else and they've been ust incredible this year. We've got a great car. It's an amazing team worldorld Championship. team So we have us you know, we have a real battle on our hands and it's going to take absolutely everyone. Full hands on deck for the rest of the year to even come close to competing with them. But I don't think it's impossible Lewis Hamilton speaking there off the back of that historic win in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago. And I think what you can be forgiven, I think if you're a Ferrari fan every year You get your hopes up. It's going to be Ferrari's year. It's a bit of a running joke For me, what seems to change this year is It's the second season of Hamilton at Ferrari. He's done the hard learning. He's come into not just any other team, but an institution, But he's bringing more and more of the right people around him. One of those people being Carlos Santi his race engineer who we even referred to as sort of the Italian Bono, Pete Bonnington his engineer at Mercedes It wasn't only Hamilton's first win for Ferrari it was Carlos's first win with Hamilton at the wheel. So that is clearly a crucial partnership, which at the start of this year and still supposedly is temporary, but how important is that is that relationship between driver and engineer and getting all the right cogs turning to challenge for what could be an eighth world title Yeah, it's a massive team. you know, F one it's not just all about the driver and haaving that bond with your team, having the bond with the engineer is really, really crucial. and you know, the first year of Lewis with Ferrari. He will have been finding his feet with the team. Obviously, Ferrari are kind of renowned for doing things as Ferrari want to do them And ultimately there's going to be a little bit of kind of give and take from the team from Lewis. and it's about finding that happy medium in the middle where you get the good mix of what Ferrari bring that is brilliant and also what Lewis brings that is brilliant. And I think it's really Lewis is very good at creating a team and that teamwork environment that Ferrari, I think, as he alluded to in that interview, were potentially lacking that North star that they were lacking last year Yeah. And so just on Carlo Santi, the race engineer, he was, as you say, Harry meant to be a temporary installment for this season. but I was asked Ferrari earlier this week whether what their plans were and they basically said they're getting on well and there's no plans to change So theyll it sounds like it's not an absolute given, but it sounds like they'll stick together for at least the rest of this year which makes sense when you've got a relationship that works well between a driver and an engineer. And that's one of the many facets with which Hamilton was struggling at Ferrari last year because he constantly and still does say that Ricardo Adami his previous engineer was a really nice guy And he's trying to find ways to not be mean about him, but clearly they didn't gel in the way that drivers and engineers need to for the most productive kind of relationship. Is he then in contention for a world title this year I think it's too early to say definitively one way or the other If They can be consistently competitive in the next three races becausecause of the reasons I said before, then I would say absolutely yes can't and Mercedes continue to dominate in the way that they did up to Spain Well I don't see a reason to say I don't see a reason in that case to say yes with the way the Ferrari car operates. Why A, what is it about this year in Ferrari that seems to have gone fairly well because I think you haven't seen before from Ferrari this kind of level of innovation and development before for them? Well, actually I would take issue with you on that. So fundamentally, Ferrari hoped that this change of regulations, it was let's not forget this. this was the biggest regulation change in forormula one history coming to this year. Wholly new cars wholly new engines They hoped that it would mean a chance for them to to get back to the front clearly in the previous regulations set, the ground effect area we call it from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty five. they're never apart from the very beginning They never really got on top of it. So But I think what's interesting about Ferrari actually When you go back, they have often responded in recent history quite well to regulation change. So for example, twenty seventeen when the wider cars were first introduced They were the most competitive car for two thirds of that season Many people think that Sastian Bettle and Ferrari that year should have won the championship and they kind of st okay, Mercedes definitely picked up pace in the end of the year, but they dropped the ball a few ways, both driver and team And the same thing happened in twenty eighteen when they were also very, very competitive for most of the season and again, too many mistakes from driver and team And then again in twenty twenty two, they started that year, new regulations, fastest car And then they got overtaken by Red Bull. againgain, so this is the third regulation set in a row. that they started with a good car What they hadn't done this year was get the engine right But with this first upgrade now and they're allowed a second upgrade this year according to the latest rules stipulations in terms of engine performance which are still up in the air and still debated by Red Bull so they're not completely set in stone if that engine progress and then the next engine progress allows him to keep pace with Mercedes and Hamilton can carry on driving in the way that he is then they can be championship contenders But it's one win out of seven. the seven of which before Mercedes won them all and let's not just let's not forget one week before Barcelona in Monaco. Okaykay, Ferrari didn't have their upgrade ing out to now they absolutely smashed it that weekend on a track that typically you would have expected to favor Ferrari I take all of that, but also I think this year, you have to give credence to reliability more than we ever have done before. and that is biting Mercedes more so than not. And Abby, when you look at it and Hamilton's results, second place in Canada, second place in Monaco, the win in Barcelona, sitting second in the driver' Championship. We're at round eight of the championship now I think you say he's a championship contender. I think so. yes, it is still quite early in the season, but we all love a fight and we all love Ferrari. So I'm with you, I'm the optimist and I'm going to say they are going to be in the championship fight. When do we stop saying we're quite early into the season? What number? get We're not even at halfway yet, come on It' hard is the definition of early, but it's trending towards not early at the la, isn't it? We're not halfway yet. E Every but saying would be obvious. I mean, look, we still don't know how many races are going. That is also second point. Well just if you see second at this point at the championship, you must be doing something right. but I do think it's because we've had this these moments with Hamilton you last year from the S sprint win in China, you know, and we all suddenly thought here we go. This is it and then it just didn't happen. But this year. he's he's beating Charlacler in the head to heads pretty much with everything It may be a small margin, but he's still he's still ahead. you know, luck comes into it as well, but there's no denying he's in a much more comfortable and better place than he has been so far it is fororever. So let's not forget this is statistically the greatest racation driver the world has ever seen and tyypically in his championship years with Mercedes He quite often It was always Amazing, right? But he didn't always start the season in his absolute best for But when he gets a sniff of something And I think the greats how this happens to the greats It's almost like they find another level in themselves. They kind of double down and the commitment just they just create an extra force, if you like. And Toto Wolf acknowledged that in his press conference after Barcelona on the Sunday evening where he said, I don't want to be in a championship fight with him because I've seen what he can do in those situations does feel like in the last few races, he's getting that sort of momentum And he's a very formidable force when he gets in that mindset and feels you know, uh momentum with it And that's definitely what he feels right now But the question is always in Formula onene, how can the car take you with it? And ultimately it's very hard to win a championship, not in the best car, even if you're a driver of the caliber of Lewis Hamilton or It doesn't happen very often but know to take a previous Ferrari championship contender for Fernando Alono Two years twenty ten and twenty twelve he drove out of his skin be in the championship fight against a superior car ity They just collectively they just fell short in the end because it's so much harder to do it when you're fighting without the equipment and til Spain He didn't have the commitment. That's why I'm a little bit cautious. No, that's okay. We'll let you off. But where, Abby, does this leave the dynamic between The two drivers at Ferrari I think if Louis keeps performing as he is and Charles keeps essentially having problems or making the mistakes. You know, that struggle between is there a number one driver? is there a number two driver? A they going to let them both race and treat them the same if they get up you know to each other on the circuit I think that's going to develop as the season goes on, similar to what we've seen with Mercedes and it's going to be all down to performance really. Obviously at the moment, Lewis is second in the championship and Charles is down in fourth But Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to see how the outright pace and as you mentioned Andrew, about the consistency that potentially we could have found with the development on the engine side of it this weekend And obviously we've seen the performance increase from the arrow previously. And just to make the final point on this topic in the context of the fight between Lecler and Hamilton and just how close it is. Yes, Charl Cla has had a difficult couple of races in Canada and Monaco and then he had the retirement in Spain He's been struggling with the braking characteristics of the car, which is also related to Hamilton because there's been a few changes on that front driven by Hamilton. And yes, Hamilton's ahead on the qualifying head to head in terms of Who beat who how many times actually Average pace Lires still slightly quicker over the season by zero point zero two five seconds That's how close it is point to school on Sunday I'm really looking forward to see how this unfolds, but what is interesting is mentioned it at the top where kind of The contenders come into play here and the reliability issues because Hamilton sits second in a Mercedes sandwich in the constructor in the driver's championship right now. Mercedes are battling their own problems. They've clear got a good car, but they've got they've got consistent issues with what appears to be the battery side of their of their power unit. So how does that f into all of this. Do Mercedes have to start looking over their shoulders at Ferrari and going Well Kimmy' quite far ahead still Do we need to back a horse? It's not there yet It's too early He says we're still early in the season. why is wor I agree with the order. But you know, of course, if that continues down the line and there's still a fight going on, eventually they get to a point where they have to ask themselves that question, but they're not there yet The issue is the battery, as you say, and it's not just affecting the Mercedes factory team, it's affected all the Mercedes engine teams Um Some of them actually worse than the Mercedes Ws team But Russell and Antoneelli have both had problems that of cause their retirements. as a consequence of this, Russell in Canada, Antoneelli in Spain, Lando Norris has been hit badly by it in McLaren, Alex Alban's been hit badly by it at Williams, the only team that haven't really is Alpine for some reason. But they've got a new battery pack being introduced this weekend in Austria with the aim of addressing this reliability problem which they've had to develop without the data from Russell's car by the way from Canada because they're still coming back on a boat, believe it or not U or a ship maybe. but u Norris and Albin don't have it because they've already had too many failures and if they'd taken it this weekend, it would have meant a grid penalty, which it'll mean eventually when they take it, but they just didn't want to do that this weekend When it comes to sort of what we're seeing this year, I'm quite liking the reliability issues because for years, Abby, the cars have been It to be bulletproof. You'd see all cars starting and all cars finishing Now it's really throwing up some interesting results. Some teams are being able to score big points when they wouldn't necessarily be able to. And actually, the late retirements in Barcelona for for Antonlli and Antoni mainly also for Lecler In a way, if you sat on the sofa and for all of us, we're actually a bit of a good thing because it's just closed that championship battle up. Yeah, add's another element of kind of jeopardy and also thinking about looking after the car. And as you say selfishly as a viewer, it's a little bit like Bucky races, you know, you think it's done in the last ten minutes, we have a couple of retirements. So it just adds an extra little bit of uncertainty. You know, as we previously know from other years, when the same person is winning all the time, you said the same cars are finishing from start to finish all through the race It gets a little bit monotonous. So you know this year is really shakaking things up obviously with the regulation changes and Naturally with that and all the new technology that's on board, you're going to have reliability issues. And yeah for us as a viewer, it just adds an extra little bit of something to focus on If you're George Russell Fast load a weekend. Yeah you put it on poll. Yeah, you gate points in your teammate. ultimately through his retirement, but actually you were overtaken on the track through pace of your teammate being superior. How you feel How do you go into Austria this weekend? It will hurt his ego a little bit being done on track. but I think if he's thinking about things with a sensible head on, he should look that actually he has broken the cycle in terms of quality He was the quickest car on the Saturday and ultimately he was able to bring it home in second place due to the failure of Kimmy's car. But I think again, it's too early to tell in terms of whether he feels he's got the momentum behind him now where he is in George And I think once he does feel like he gets a couple of runs of good pace behind him and he is out qualifying his teammate and he is out finishing his teammate on circuit without the mechanical failure aiding it. I think you'll start to get a bit more wind behind him and potentially the fight between the two drivers could hot up more and more Well let's see it's a short circuit Austria which often condenses the field, particularly in qualifying. onene of the closest gaps we usually see throughout the year. So that's certainly after practice one. It was incredibly tight between the two Mercedes drivers. Shall we move to Flaren And I mean, when you take a step back Abby look at this year from them. you know They haven't nailed it Is that a consequence of having been battling and putting so much resource in the back end of last year fighting for a championship and ultimately succeeding, but has that come at a cost I think probably so. and you see reflections of that in Red Bull's pace or lack of this year as well It's going to be hard to put all one hundred percent into battling for a championship whilst also thinking about developing for the following year. There will be a lot of that on the go anyway. but in terms of when you've got a team that's trying to focus fully on preparations for the following year with such a big reg change It's hard to be able to drag someone away from a championship fight to focus on that. So I do think we're seeing remnants of that and repercussions of that And you know, this weekend with the free prractice one session haaving the issues with looking into the upgrades on the car and actually being able to run these upgrades that McLaren have brought, that's going to hurt as well. So it seems like they are a little bit on the back foot so far in twenty twenty six Do you rule Lando Norris out of defending his title this year? Or is it too early to say? How many points is he behind? Lador sits fifth in the championship and he has eighty three points behind Antonll. I think it's going to be tough to get back up there. but having said that and as we've just mentioned, reliability issues, yes McLaren have been at the brunt of them a little bit as well as obviously Mercedes, but That's going to be an element that could bring them back up into the championship fight as the season goes on They've got reliability and performance issues, haven't they? I mean, I think the bottom line is, you know to Miami which Norris really should have won Mercedes made a mistake on the strategy there by letting Antonlli and Mercedes undercut them and get into the lead and It looked like they might be developing some form of, you know championship potential momentum because if they could compete there and beat Mercedes on merit, having just introduced an upgrade, which is what happened that weekend then okay, maybe they could move forward from there and be competitive everywhere else. But that's not what's happened They weren't competitive in Canada in race nowhere close They were not competitive enough in Monaco and they weren't competitive enough in Spain, although actually Spain gave them a bit of hope because Norris Although it wasn't really that noticeable because he was fourth all the time, but he was always in the lead fight a second or two behind. A actually Norris was in the picture. of the strategy of all the questions that were being decided by the strategist during the race as to when to stop. influencing things So they weren't so far off and Austria actually is a track where they've traditionally gone quite well. but there's too many question marks about them at the moment. so they need to prove that they can get there competitive pace level up again get a handle on the reliability issues which they're not just suffering from Mercedeses problems have also got their own issues Um quite consistently happening most weekends, and that's not what McLed expected themselves I'm not sure it's completely clear why that's happening, but I would agree with Abby. I think it can't be unrelated to the fact that their championship fight went so late into last year Okay, well we'll keep track of that and see how they fare this weekend. Now I teased earlier at start of the show that the driver bucket could be something to keep an eye on. It's quietly bubbling away in the background becausecause a lot of the drivers are actually out of contract at the end of this season. Now to Fernando Alonso, and this could be quite a big factor So the forty four year old is out of contract with Aston Martin at the end of the year. He said he has no plans to retire has hint said he could leave Formula One for another series, admitting he's not enjoying the racing under the current regulations. I will keep driving because I think you need to stop driving when you feel that you don't enjoy or you don't want to compete. timeime didn't arrive yet. I want to compete. I love competing. I love driving So I will not a stop No It doesn't mean that they will keep going in forma one. There are many series in Motorsport that they are appealing and Formula One with the Carn Gres is not the same fun as it used to be. So that's maybe the only question that I need to ask myself, you know, if the current formula one is worth, you know you know, the time driving and the tight the schedule that we are in, but Sure, you know when I stop Formula one I see myself with Aston Martin because I believe in the project. I'm part of the project and I said many times in the past that I think this team has all the ingredients to succeed in the future and I want to feel that success behind the wheel or not behind the wheel, but I think need to we need to complete the The target. So case's close, Andrew, He's not going to another team then. Well this is the thing. So Fernando's got a bit bored this year of being asked the same questions every weekend. A, why are Aston Martin rubbish? and when are they not going to be? and B, is he going to retire or not? And he's made no he's not hidden the fact that he's got a bit bored, but it's very clear that between him and the Aston Martin team heading into Austria, they made a decision that they were going to try and address this issue because there' been some reports notot in particularly reputable media outlets, but reports nonetheless saying that he could go to Alpine next year, which makes a lot of logical sense because Alpine' a team that he's driven for a lot of times already in the past And it's run by Flavio Birotorere, who is Alanto's manager And you could see how for Flavio, it would be appealing to have Fernando back in his team. for a whole bunch of reasons, including old rubbing your fingers thing together because he gets twenty percent of his salary. But they clearly wanted to put that idea to bed and to emphasize that he was committed to Aston Martin If he stays in forormal one and he said, I want to win World Chionship Aust Martin with or without driving, that's still the same commitment in my case We don't know what he's going to do The thing is Of course he wants he' carry on racing because he loves racing. He wants to go and win that car which he competed in once in twenty twenty and did a very decent. He was very he was quick in it he just crashed a bit too often can happen in rally rally raiding when you first go to it But it's one thing to ask yourself a question about, do I love the Formula one cars? Do I want the schedule, especially given he's just become a father And it's another thing to forego thirty million dollars a year Now he doesn't need thirty million dollars because he's already got hundreds of millions of dollars and anyone only needs to see the videos of his car collection in Monaco of him driving around the streets in one fantastically luxurious car. He's just a little child though, hasn't he might have to upsize in Monaco. that's going to cost a lot, need an extra room. He's got to think about these things. And also now he's forty four or about to be forty five at the end of July He can't quit forormula one and come back again So if he quits at the end of this year That's it. He's not coming back, whereereas he could carry on. And I think My feeling is that he's He's waiting to see what the Aston Martin upgrade is like held off on their upgrades until package that's coming in Spa in two races time There's a Honda engine upgrade coming At some point in the summer, I had originally heard it would be at Zanvort after the summer break now bings it might even be ready for spa somethingomething might be ready for spa as well So I think if he sees genuine progress from Aston Martin, then let's not forget Adrian Newe is there running the technical department, the greatest designer in F one history. and having finally got a chance to work with Adrien Newer, by the way after twenty five years of trying, it would be a wise it would be a brave person who then walked away from working with Adrianne Newy, if they still wanted to race andform the world. I think if they can show that they can make a step forward with the upgrades I think he'll be minded to stay. even though he really doesn't like these hybrid cars that have been introduced this year, he really doesn't like them. He's made that very clear. I just think be he'll find it too hard to step away if he gets a sense of Aston Martin making serious forward progress. but that's a big if we don't know the answer to that question yet. I think we just have to wait a little bit longer to see. So there's going to be a lot of eyes on that new Aston Martin which is effectively a new car in the Belgiian Grand Prix. I could see Alonso coming back as a team boss if he left. And I believe askedon have a team principal vacancy, don't they? Could you imagine that? It would beving the driving, but then he's going to come back and be the boss. It would be so much fun. I mean Fernando Alonsoo was a team principal, wouldn't it? J much still get to work with Newy. He'd have the final sale on everything. I don't know. mayaybe, but I suppose it's not only Ferand Alonsoo, Abbey that's clearly not happy with the regulations It's Max Verstappen as well continue that those conversations being going, but they are changing. But with the way Red Bulls performing at the moment as well with with both Verstappen and Hjar, it's up and down and it's not where they want to be He's a real he's a real big hook in this driver market. Yeah. and he's not shied away from saying look if this doesn't get better, if the cars don't get more towards you know, flat out racing that we're all hungry for, then you know he's been doing a lot of endurance racing. He's been racing GT three s and I know he has aspirations to go and A little bit like alone, try and take you know many of her races and championships off the list. and It would be a shame if everyone were to lose Max, I think It will be a real game for all the other echelons of motorsport out there for him to go and experience it So I think the prospect of Verstappen quitting F one which was relatively real around Japan time when he was saying, I'm thinking about my future. um has kind of receded He's happy to see that the F one rulemakers have moved the engine regulations in the right direction. There's a change for next year, another change for twenty twenty eight try and get back to more flat out racing with the engines because a big issue that both Alonso and Verstappen have is there's too much not on the limit aspect to qualifying at the moment because of the energy management requirements The question for Verstappen Moore at the moment, I think is whether he stays a rebel or not He is under contract till the end of twenty twenty eight, but he does have a performance clause in his contract that the wave Rbbleer going at the moment means he definitely will be free if he wants to be at the end of this year or by a certain point whenever the the clause comes into action The question is does he stay or does he go? If he wants to leave, the obvious destination is Mercedes George Russell yesterday he has a little session with a few sllect few British media. which I happened to miss yesterday, but I've seen the quotes normally I go Um And he said he was one hundred percent certain that he would go to that he would be he would be at a Mercedes next year which It's kind of saying, Well Max isn't coming because Russell signed a new contract last winter which he says has clauses in it, which means if you meet certain requirements He's locked in. But we all know that a contract in form one is not worth the paper it's written on if people really want to change So We still don't know what's going on there, but you could see why Verstapen would find Mercedes appealing Tota Wolf after all has been horting Max Verstappen pretty publicly for the last two or three years, hasn't landed him yet, but maybe he'll get his date one day I feel like the whole driver market is just bubbling and it's going to explode at any moment. So we'll keep tabs on that as we go. But I think that just about does it for our preview of the weekend just to finish, I think Aby Aagjer with some predictions. who's going to run well here? Wh is your pick for the win, Benny I think Mercedes will be in charge here and I think Antonelli will win Can I be born and agree with Benthon? Yeah, you're allowed to do that. S sameame shame. You' be boring, B? Yeah, sorry I'm born today. I'm gonna go for You've got to go Hamilton. No you've got to. I'm going to go for Hamilton. I am. I'm not one hundred percent backing myself on that front, but to be different, I'm going to go Hamilton for back to Bat wins. Wouldn't that be something would be then we could talk the world Championship That is not too early. that it's not too early. I tell you what isn't early though, this podcast is probably actually a bit late. So we'll call it there. Thank you Andrew. Thank you Abbey. The Austrian Grand Prix is across BBC sounds and the five Liveve network this weekend. You can hear the race live on five live lights out from two o'clock in the afternoon. This has been an IMG production for BBC radio, fiveive live Bye my phone. I'm Steve Bratnell. host of Games Gone, the Steve Bratnell podcast. What's my favourite W cup moment as a fan? I have to say, Michael Lowen skinning the whole of the Argentina defeence and crackking the top corner for a very short space of time, I believe favorite World Cup player in history. It won't be popular, but I'm gonna say Diego Madadononna. O right he unballed it. But the guy was a complete genius. The People World Cup twenty twenty six. Listen on BBC Sounds